THE SECREAT GUEST

The secret guest

Love is the most beautiful as well as the most dangerous feeling in the world; this case is evidence of that fact. I am Ajit, a freelance private detective. Like every ambitious student, I have decided to become an engineer but cannot qualify for competitive exams. I have also taken out an education loan and taken admission to a private college. After spending all my father's savings to gain admission here, I decided to create a side income, so I tried multiple ways. Unfortunately, I fell drastically.

One day I saw a pamphlet flying in the air that came in front of my eyes, and I got my first freelance detective job. My general task was to look for extramarital affairs and investigate policy claims, premarital affairs, and basic jobs. After doing this work, I almost believed in love, but this case shocked me.

Let me tell you my story: Ankita is a software engineer at a leading company in Kolkata. Her family consists of her mother, her younger brother, who is suffering from paralysis, and her father, who died in an accident. Ankita was the only breadwinner for her family. She left for Kolkata in a rented flat, and her family was in the village. You all are thinking how I got this case; actually, the person who was supposed to get this job was ill, so I got this, oh! But what happened? Let me tell you. On December 26th, Ankita didn't visit the office, so her HR called her, but she didn't receive the call. The same happened for up to 5–6 days, so one day one of her colleagues, Rajat, visited her house, but the strange thing was that her door had been locked for 5 days and no one from society had seen Ankita for 5 days. So Rajat called the police, and with the help of the police, he opened the door and found no one was there.

On the table, there were two plates of biriyani. One is full, and in the second one, no one has touched it; another one is eaten by someone; and two glasses of coke are there; one is full and the other is half full. Now the question is, where is Ankita? She wasn't found. When her family asked for an insurance claim, the company declined it, and in this way, I got this case. My job was to investigate for the company what happened to Ankita. Genuinely, she is missing, or it's a trick to get insurance money. So I started my work. From the police report, I got to know that before she went missing, someone came to her house, and the organization of the dinner table clearly shows someone special came to meet her. I visited the local grocery store to inquire about Ankita. In the store, there was an old man and a boy of almost my age, most probably his son. First, I asked the man, "Uncle, do you know about Ankita?"

"Yes, a very good-hearted and calm girl; everyone loves her." uncle replied

"Does she have any enemies there or not?" I asked.

"No, she is a very good girl; everyone likes her, but her family conditions were not good; her brother was ill, and she was the only breadwinner for her family," the shop owner says with sorrow.

"Do you remember the last time you saw her?" I asked with excitement.

"Why are you asking this?" The shopkeeper cross-questioned me.

"I am a private detective like Feluda and Byomkesh," I replied.

After listening, the old man asked, "Where is your sidekick?"

It was strange to listen to this. I said, "What?"

"You don't have a sidekick like Byomkesh has Ajit, Feluda has Topshe, and Sherlock has Watson," the shopkeeper gave a shocking response.

Then I explained who I am and how I handled this case. Then he said, "I don't know last time when she came or whether she came on November 25th or not; my son knows because he was in the shop on November 25th.".

I asked his son, "When did you meet her on November 25?"

He replied, "In the evening."

"How was her behavior that day?" I asked with curiosity.

"She was happy that day; she brought ingredients to make biriyani; she also brought a cold drink; and she told me that today someone came to meet her," he said normally, but his fingers were against his statement.

"Did you see her guest?" I asked

"Yes, I saw her guest; he is a man running away from society," he replied with confidence.

"How did you know he was the guest?" I asked with suspicion.

"Last year, on December 25, I saw him from the balcony," he replied.

After listening to this, I came back, and then I asked Ankita's neighbor. She replied that on the 25th night, she heard the voice of Ankita happily talking with her guest. Slowly, I started believing that the guest was a murderer. So I asked one of the inspectors, using my company connection, what could be the reason that her guest killed her. The police officer replied, "Maybe for money, because we didn't find cash in her house."

"How did she get money? As per my knowledge, she belongs to a poor family." I put my point of view in front of him. "Actually, according to her transaction history, she withdrew money." After this, I came out of there at night, when I was thinking about two questions. The first is why she withdrawn the money at month end, and the second is how only one person could see him. I was thinking that suddenly the inspector called me, and there was not a single fingerprint in the room. So I asked him for Ankita's call record. At first, it was strange to see my curiosity in this case; actually, I also don't know why I am so curious. The inspector told me that "in her recent calls, there were a number of medicine stores. When we visited there, we came to know she had ordered some expensive injections for her brother, which were not available in the village. Maybe for this reason she withdrawn the cash." After this, I thanked him.

One question has been solved, but another has been added. Who knows what comes next? Next morning, when I woke up again, I received a call from an inspector informing me that her body was found in a pond near the society. Due to the rise in mosquitoes, when the municipality workers came to clean the place, they found the body, and the police went to find the killer. Now my job is finished, but this curiosity is not allowing me to stop. So, I decided to lead my own investigation. I requested that the police officer spy on the shopkeeper's son. Then I went to Ankita's office and asked her colleagues about her secret guest. I didn't get any clues about the guest, but I got to know about her best friend, who lives in the city. When I visited her friend Aradhya's house, first she couldn't believe her friend's death, then after she told me about her college boyfriend Ankit, who got a job in the army, she went towards the border before leaving. He told her that he would come on Christmas but never came back. After this, I went to Ankit's house. There, I met his mother and asked her about Ankita. She told me that the last time she visited years ago, Ankit's dead body came on December 25th. Now the image is becoming clear.

From the police, I get to know that Rajesh, the shopkeeper's son, has a friend named Arko, and both consume drugs. When they interrogate Arko, they come to know that Rajesh loved Ankita. They found some currency that Rajesh gave him, and it has a fingerprint of Ankita's. Now the image is clear in front of me. I asked the police to call Rajesh to the flat, and I went there.

On entering there, I praised Rajesh and said, "Rajesh! Your memory is sharper than a computer; you have recognized a man that you saw a year ago. I hope you help in drawing the sketch of the man."

Rajesh started hesitating. He said, "I saw him five days ago; how should I remember him now?"

"You didn't remember, or you didn't want to remember," I said under pressure.
"What are you saying?" Rajesh said it with fear. I said with confidence, "Actually, you killed her because she rejected you." After listening, he said with anger, "Finally, you found me, but I don't have any grief because she was a liar; she lied to me; no one came to meet her.".

I said, "You are wrong. Every Christmas, Ankita's boyfriend came to visit her.".

"Then why are fingerprints missing?" a constable asked.

"Because he is no more. Actually, Ankit was an army officer, but five years ago, in a terrorist attack, he died. He promised her that he would come on Christmas, and from that day on, Ankit came into Ankita's mind," I said with grief.

"If you love her, you will understand." I said this to Rajesh. Then the police arrested him. I also left that place. One thing is for sure: I still can't believe this kind of love exists in today's world. I wish one day I had someone like Ankita for me